A film highlighting the struggles of families caring for victims of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) has won the One World award in the 2015 US International Film & Video Festival.
“Front Row: ALS,” produced by GMA Network Inc., Quezon City, was selected by an international panel of judges from the International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers (IQ). IQ sponsors the award, which is given to a production that creates greater awareness of a worldwide issue. Bestor Cram, executive producer and creative director at Northern Light Productions, Boston, Mass., chaired the judging team. Donna Hampton, CEO and executive producer of Capitol Productions, North Sydney, Australia, is president of IQ.
Front Row, a public affairs program, used the occasion of the Ice Bucket Challenge, in which participants worldwide focused attention on ALS by being doused with a bucket of ice water, to look at the neurodegenerative disease in the Philippines. What reporters found was a lack of information about the disease, but many families coping with care for its victims. J. Tam was program manager; Ian Simbulan, segment producer and director; M. Lopez and G. Delos Reyes were directors of photography. P. Suyat was responsible for research; production was by N. Dionido-Caparas, S. Torres-Madsam and P. Agulto. G. Elizaga was transcriber.
GMA Network Inc. operates TV and radio stations throughout the Philippines. This is the second year that a GMA production has received the One World award. In the 2014 competition, GMA News TV won for "Brigada (The Brigade): Gintong Krudo (Black Gold)," a documentary to raise awareness of child labor in the Philippines.
Information on all winners can be found at www.filmfestawards.com. Information about IQ can be found at http://www.internationalquorum.com/
